Is Adolescent Bullying an Evolutionary Adaptation?
- 13 February 2012
- journal article
- research article
- Published by Wiley in Aggressive Behavior
- Vol. 38 (3), 222-238
- https://doi.org/10.1002/ab.21418
Abstract
Bullying appears to be ubiquitous across cultures, involving hundreds of millions of adolescents worldwide, and has potentially serious negative consequences for its participants (particularly victims). We challenge the traditionally held belief that bullying results from maladaptive development by reviewing evidence that bullying may be, in part, an evolved, facultative, adaptive strategy that offers some benefits to its practitioners. In support of this view, we draw from research that suggests bullying serves to promote adolescent bullies’ evolutionarily-relevant somatic, sexual, and dominance goals, has a genetic basis, and is widespread among nonhuman animals. We identify and explain differences in the bullying behavior of the two sexes, as well as when and why bullying is adaptive and when it may not be. We offer commentary on both the failures and successes of current anti-bullying interventions from an evolutionary perspective and suggest future directions for both research and anti-bullying interventions. Aggr. Behav. 38:222–238, 2012.Keywords
This publication has 108 references indexed in Scilit:
- The cost of dominance: suppressing subordinate reproduction affects the reproductive success of dominant female banded mongoosesProceedings. Biological sciences, 2011
- Reproductive control via eviction (but not the threat of eviction) in banded mongoosesProceedings. Biological sciences, 2010
- Reactive and Proactive Aggression in Childhood and Adolescence: Precursors, Outcomes, Processes, Experiences, and MeasurementJournal of Personality, 2010
- Handgrip strength predicts sexual behavior, body morphology, and aggression in male college studentsEvolution and Human Behavior, 2007
- Physical aggression as a function of perceived fighting ability and provocation: an experimental investigationAggressive Behavior, 2007
- Observed Initiation and Reciprocity of Physical Aggression in Young, At-Risk CouplesJournal of Family Violence, 2007
- Reactions to bullying and peer victimization: Narratives, physiological arousal, and personalityJournal of Research in Personality, 2006
- An evolutionary model of stature, age at first birth and reproductive success in Gambian womenProceedings. Biological sciences, 2004
- Bullying behavior and associations with psychosomatic complaints and depression in victimsThe Journal of Pediatrics, 2004
- Bullying involvement in primary school and common health problemsArchives of Disease in Childhood, 2001